Nanny Gabriela Leon was picnicking under a tree with two small boys when she saw a baby bird, barely clinging by its wing to a birdhouse high above.

"Come!" she summoned the boys. "We've got to save this baby!"

She cupped her hands to catch the bird.

Just about then, a well-worn, gold 1982 BMW with an "I Love Trees" bumper sticker pulled up to the curb.

"Is that him?" Leon asked. "Is he the one who takes care of the birds?"



It was. Gardner Sumner, a volunteer at Laura and Cater Joseph's community purple martin sanctuary behind Flipnotics Coffeespace Cafe on Barton Springs Road in South Austin, walked onto the lot looking worried but determined. Sumner cranked the birdhouse down, like lowering a flag, and rescued the newborn.

"It's OK, sweetheart," he said.

He placed the bird back into one of the rooms of the house. In the empty room above, he put in a frozen water bottle to cool the house's interior and give the baby some relief.

Just before taking a pair of tweezers to feed the hungry baby pieces of scrambled egg, Sumner whistled to calm it. With its eyes still closed, the baby assumed the whistling was coming from a parent, which was somewhere nearby searching for food.

Sumner hoped he'd given the baby another day to survive the heat and drought. Daily, three to five newborn or young birds die. Monday was a terrible day; Sumner had to bury eight.

The interiors of the gourdlike houses can get well above 100 degrees. When the babies can't take it, they jump out. Sometimes Sumner is there in time to save them. What's more, the lack of rain means fewer flying insects for the purple martin parents to bring to the young.



In the past month, about 124 newborns and fledglings have died at the sanctuary . Last year, only three died during the same period. According to records kept by volunteers, 53 purple martins have fledged and 25 more birds are still in their nests this breeding season, but even that number dwindles daily.

"The translation between life and death here at the sanctuary is very brutal. It's not right," said Steve Barnick, another volunteer.

The sanctuary, free for all to enjoy, is the work of Laura Joseph, who lives on the property. The native songbird comes to Austin to nest in April after wintering in Brazil. By May and June, 200 to 300 babies have been born at the Joseph property alone, and by July, those that survive head back to Brazil.

Despite this year's mortality rate, Sumner, a retired pathologist who comes to the sanctuary five times a day, is making a difference. He's provided cardboard shading for the houses and uses frozen water bottles to cool them down.

"That's all a purple martin landlord can do, plus put out crickets or mealworms," said Louise Chambers of the Purple Martin Conservation Association.

"It's a bad year for Texas and Louisiana," she said. "The drought means less flying insects. When the parents have four or five babies and there isn't enough food to go around, they feed the one or two that are the strongest."

While Sumner and other volunteers try to make a difference, only one factor will balance the ecosystem and save the remaining purple martins.

"It's rain," Barnick said.